Door latch



Feb. 20, 1945. Hfs. volGHT 2,369,873

- DOOR LATCH Filed May 21, 1945 l 2` sheets-sheet 1 Feb. zo, 1945.

DOOR LATCH 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 v Filed May 2l, 1943 of the lock case.

in its retracting movements.

other bears against the other lug 29 when the openings of the roll-backs are in registration.

By means of these openings the roll backs are rotatably mounted upon a hub member 3B which in turn is rotatably mounted in the portions I'l As shown in Fig, 7 this hub member is provided with a non-circular` central opening 38 to non-rotatably receive the knob spindle 39 of similar shape.

Secured to the hub 36, adjacent one end thereof, is a cam member 4U provided with an inwardly projecting lug 4| having shoulder portions 43 and 44 thereon, designed respectively to engage back of the arms 33 of the roll-backs andactuate one or the other of the latter members thus causing it to be moved against the lugs 29 and retract the latch bolt by means of the retractor 25. It will be apparent that when the knob spindle 39 is turned the retracting cam 40 will be turned and the shoulder members -43 or 44, depending upon the direction in which the knob spindle is rotated, will be moved against one of the lugs 29. It will also be obvious that when one of the roll-backs 34 is actuated the other may remain at rest as the two are entirely separate from each other and only one is moved by the hub cam depending upon the direction of rotation of the spindle 39 but that y regardless of the direction in which the spindle is rotated the latch bolt will be retracted. It is also noted that the hub 3B as lwell as the rollbacks 34 are symmetrically mounted with respect to a central longitudinal plane` through which the lock extends, so, regardless of the position in which the latch mechanism may be mounted upon the door, these parts will occupy the same position with respect to the escutcheon and other mounting parts of the lock which cooperate with the lock case.

Secured to the member 2Ba is a forwardly extending post 46 about which is a spring 4l, which post and spring are received in an opening` in the rear end of the bolt l24 so that the spring` 4l will tend to urge the bolt toward protracted position shown in Fig. 4 and the post 45 will guide the bolt The guardbolt 48 is reciprocably mounted in the lock case to project therefrom at the rear edge of the latch bolt head l5, this guard bolt being beveled lug 54 adapted when the guard bolt is pro-A tracted to move under and raise a laterally eX- tending arm -55 on -a clogging lever 55 pivoted in the case at '51. This arm 55 of the dogging lever is adapted, when the parts are in the position of Fig. 2 and the guard bolt retracted by the strike plate, to stand behind a portion 58 of the latch bolt and dog the same against retraction.--When, however, the guard bolt is protracted by its spring. the member 54 moves below the laterally extending end 55 of the lever 56 and moves the part 55 from its dogging position so that the latch bolt is free for'retraction.

It will be apparent from the above that when the door is closed and the latch bolt is protracted it will be dogged against retraction. It istherefore necessary to arrange to mov'e the clogging member 55 out of its operative position when the knob spindle is turned to retract the latch. For

this purpose the dogging lever 56 is provided with a tail portion 69 designed to lie in a semi-circular recess 6l in the hub cam 40 and, as will be obviousl from Fig. 2, regardless of the direction in which the shub 36 is rotated, the cam will move the end 60 of the clogging lever out of the recess Si and thus `move the dog 55 upwardly (referring to Figure 2) until it no longer engages the member 58 on the bolt whereby the bolt 'will be free for retraction by one or the other of the roll-backs 33.

A spring l62 acting against the lock case and surrounding a finger S3 on the dogging lever` 55 tends @to maintain this lever in its operative position.

It will be apparent that I have provided a tubular latch structure of very simple construction which is reversible so that it may be mounted upon either right or left hand doors and that the knob spindle and associated mechanism is symmetrical with respect to the lock case. Moreover` regardless of the direction in which the knob spindle is rotated, one or the other of the rollbaclm 33 will be picked up by the cam lll on the hub 3B and actuated-to retract the latch bolt. Also, when rotated in either direction, the hub cam 40 will serve to move the clogging lever 5B against the tension of its spring 'B2 to a position to free the bolt for retraction.

While I have shown and described a preferred embodiment of my invention, it will be understood that it is not to be limited to all of the details shown but is capable of modiiication and variation within the spirit of the invention and within the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. A door latch comprising a case of generally tubular shape, a latch bolt reciprocably mounted therein, a pair of spaced retracting members connected to the bolt, a hub rotatably mounted in thecase between said members, a pair of rollbacks mounted on the hub, each having an arm thereon, said arms projecting in opposite directions to engage said retracting members respectively, a cam on said hub adjacent one end thereof, said cam having an inwardly extending lug thereon disposed between said arms; and means on said lug to actuate one or the other oi said arms depending upon the direction of rotation of said hub.

2. A door latch comprising a case of generally tubular shape, a latch bolt reciprocably mounted therein, a pair of spaced retracting members connected to the bolt, a hub rotatably mounted in the case between said members, a pair of rollbacks movably mounted in the case, each having means thereon to engage one of said retracting members, a cam on said hub adjacent one end thereof, said cam having an inwardly extending lug thereon disposed between said means, and means on said lug to engage and actuate one or the other of said rollbacks dependingA upon the direction of rotation of said hub, each of said rollbacks being movable independently of the other.

3. A door latch comprising a case of generally tubular shape, a latch bolt reciprocably mounted therein, a pair of spaced retracting members connected to the bolt, a hub rotatably mounted in the case between said members. a pair of rollbacks mounted on the hub, each having an arm thereon, said arms projecting in opposite directions to engage said retracting members respectively, a cam on said hub adjacent one end thereof, said cam having an inwardly extending lug thereon disposed between said arms, and

means on said lug to actuate one or the other of symmetrically arranged relatively to a horizontal.

plane through the center of the case.

4. A door latch comprising a case of generally tubular shape, a latch bolt reciprocably mounted therein, `a pair of spaced retracting members connected to the bolt, a hub rotatably mounted in the case between said members, a pair `of rollbacks mounted on the hub, each having anarm thereon, said arms projecting in opposite directions to engage said retracting members respectively, a cam on said hub adjacent one end there-A tubular shape, a latch bolt reciprocably mounted therein, a pair of spaced retracting members connected to the bolt, a hub rotatably mounted` in the case between said members, a pair of rollbacks each having an opening rotatably receiving said hubA and an armto engage one of said retracting members to retract the bolt, a cam on said hub adjacent one end thereof, said cam having an inwardly'r extending lug thereon provided With a pair of shoulders, one of which picks up and moves one of said rollbacks depending upon the direction ofrotation of said hub, a boltclogging lever mounted in the case having a tail portion, and vsaid cam having a recess in its periphery in which the tail portion of said lever normally is disposed.

6. A door latch comprising a case of generally v tubular shape, a latch bolt reciprocably mounted therein, a pair of spaced retracting members connected to the bolt, a hub rotatably mounted in the case between said members, a pair of rollbacks mounted on 'said hub, each of said rollbacks having an arm to engage one of said retracting members, a cam on said hub adjacent one end thereof, said -cam having a lug extending substantiallyparallel to the hub and disposed between said armste actuate one or the other thereof depending upon the direction of rotation of said hub, a bolt clogging lever mounted in the case having a tail portion, and means on said cam engaging the tail portion of said lever to actuate' the same when the hub is rotated.

l HENRY G. VOIGHT. 

